IRVINE, Calif. – UC Irvine extended its winning streak to eight games after defeating UC Santa Barbara 83-70 at the Bren Events Center Saturday evening.
 
UC Irvine takes the season series from the Gauchos and improves to 22-5 overall and leads the Big West with a 10-1 record. UCSB goes to 17-8 on the year and 6-5 in conference play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
>Evan Leonard led all players with 23 points, hitting 7-11 from the floor, including three three-pointers
>Leonard went 6-6 from the charity stripe, extending his consecutive free throw streak to 12 straight
>Jonathan Galloway recorded his fifth double-double of the season, tying his career-high with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds
>Collin Welp had 12 points off the bench, scoring 10 in the first half. The forward was 5-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the free throw line
>Max Heidegger led a trio of Gauchos in double-figures with 17 points

TURNING POINTS
FIRST HALF
>UCI came out of the gates hot, going on an 11-0 run. UCI had five points from Evan Leonard, four from Tommy Rutherford and was capped by Collin Welp at 16:25
>The Anteaters went 5-6 from the floor to start the game, while UCSB was 0-5 before scoring their first bucket at 15:43 by Jarriesse Blackmon
>Welp then started a 10-2 spurt that included four points from John Edgar Jr. and a Jonathan Galloway high-flying rebound put-back to give UCI the 23-6 lead at 10:19
>Baskets by Welp (8:58), Leonard (8:19) and a three-pointer by Eyassu Worku (8:01) extended the gap to 30-10
>The Anteaters shot 51.5 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, going 17-33 overall and 5-6 from beyond the arc
> UCI forced UCSB in to 10 first half turnovers, scoring 14 points off of Gaucho miscues

SECOND HALF
>Leonard scored seven of UCI's points in a 9-3 run to take a 55-38 lead with 13:46 remaining
>UCSB's Jay Nagle would hit a three-pointer to narrow the lead to 57-45 at 10:50 before UCI used a jumper by Worku and a dunk by Galloway to move the advantage back to 61-45 (10:03)
>The Gauchos answered with a 6-2 run, 63-51, heading in to the media timeout (7:59)
>A Max Heidegger jumper at 6:34 got the Gauchos within 10, 65-55
>UCSB would again get close on a pair of free throws by Amadou Sow at 3:44 (67-59)
>UCI answered with a jumper by Leonard and a basket and free throw by Galloway 72-59 with 1:29 remaining
>Free throws by Robert Cartwright and Galloway plus a Leonard three with nine seconds put the game away (81-64)
>The Anteaters went on to win 83-70

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH RUSSELL TURNER
"I was pleased with the week of preparation we had and how we took control of this game early. We played at a really high level on offense and defense and dictated the first half. I like this team. I think this team is competitive and continues to improve." 

NOTES
>Leonard as led the team in scoring six times
> Leonard's 23 points were a season-best
>UCI is 10-2 at home 
>The starting lineup of Galloway, Worku, Hazzard, Rutherford and Leonard is 8-0 this season
>Max Hazzard extended his streak of games with a made three-pointer to 19


UP NEXT
>UCI will host Cal Poly Thursday (Feb. 21) in the lone game of the week starting at 7:00 p.m. from the Bren Center